My Learning Rise and Fall

      August 14th of 2019 was the day C'Mira's learning experience would be changed.
School for C'Mira, who goes by the name of Cece, started on August 12th. As soon as she saw her schedule on August 9th she knew something was wrong. It was mainly right there was just one thing that she saw wrong. Instead of AP English Language, it said English 3. That same day that she saw her schedule she went and talked to her counselor. Mrs. Fruge told Cece that she meant to put her in AP English, but there wasn't enough space. So that upcoming Monday that would start Cece's Junior year, she went to her perspective classes. Fourth period had passed and fifth period was coming up. She was dreading it because she just knew it wasn't the right class for her and what she wanted to achieve. She sat in the class just dreading another year of bs textbooks, bs workbooks, and bs essays. Cece texted her counselor and asked if there was any openings yet, but sadly there was not. She went the rest of the day thinking about how her transcripts would look to the colleges she had on her list. After sixth period of her second day of school, she marched straight into her counselor's office and asked her if there was an opening yet, and to her satisfaction and surprise, there was!
     Cece got her new schedule and saw that she had Dr. Preston. She had known of Dr. Preston since she was in 8th grade. Cece had an older sister who went to SMHS since she was a freshman and had all the advanced classes. Cerenity and Cece had all of the same types of classes for their respective grades. So before Cece even got Dr. Preston she knew she wanted him because she knew somewhat of how he taught. She went to Dr. Preston's class afraid of the expectations she was putting on herself to uphold the reputation her big sister had made. She loved creating her blog and doing the blog post. Cece also loved going to Dr.P's blog to get the daily schedules and instructions for the day. Most of all Cece loved doing the daily journals. As the semester was advancing, Cece started having trouble focusing and keeping up with the blog post. She didn't have time because she was trying to prove herself to not only the people telling her she had too much on her plate but to herself. She was the type of student who did things to make her transcripts look good. Cece was very smart but gave up easily once things got too hard.
       On August 29th, 2019, Cece's great grandmother passed. Cece fell into a depression that presented her with many struggles on top of her struggling to juggle her time management with sports and school. At this point, she fell very far behind. She didn't think she could persevere. Basketball season was approaching and her coaches told her that they knew she could do better than what she was, but that wasn't enough. Her foster mom hounded on her to get her stuff done, and that wasn't enough. Her counselor told her that she might have to go to a JC after high school with the way her grades were looking, and it still wasn't enough. What made Cece see that she was only bull shitting herself was the fact that she had come so far, proven so many people wrong time after time, and made both of her late grandmothers too proud to give up when she was so close. She mentally and emotionally slapped herself in the face and told herself, "It's time to face the facts and get back to reality."
      Cece realized that it was not time holding her back but her own mind. Dr. P told the class that they would get a chance to interview for their grades. Thanksgiving break was coming up and she knew that this would give her the chance to properly prepare herself for this interview and get all her work done so she could ask for a good grade and actually deserve it. She would go home after practice over the break and work on her blogs and website instead of goofing off with her siblings and cousins. Cece was so determined to put in the effort for Dr.P's class that she put herself on a schedule that would allow her to diligently and effectively work on not just her AP English work but her AP US History homework as well.
      At the beginning of this semester, Cece fell into a space where she played the victim. She tried to keep up with everyone else standards on top of her own. Cece was trying to keep up with everyone around her when in reality she needed to keep up with herself. Cece is now the student who takes responsibility for her actions and takes charge of herself. She is growing as a student, an open-source student, and as a young adult.

How Did I Do?

Today I had an interview, please let me know how I did. The good, the bad, and the in between.

Today I Asked A Different Question

  What makes people decide to kill? What makes them decide to kill multiple people?

Psychology has always intrigued me. I've always wondered how people think and how our brains are in control of our personalities. It's amazing how chemicals inside our brains and how our genetics make us who we are in every aspect of our lives. Today I asked a big question, "Do all serial killers have a genetic predisposition to kill and how are certain events or personalities correlated to making a criminal?"
Me ka aloha, Cece

When They Saw Them: A Show That Struck the Nation

       When we are young, we have zero cares in the world. We play with who we want without regard to skin color, gender, religion, and race. It's our own person who first introduces us to the pain the world has in store for us or vice versa they introduce us to the hatred that we will have for the world. If it is not hate for the world that a child of color has, then it is hate for the child of color that the world has. Our society needs change. And there was one show that touched the topic and opened the eyes of the nation. "When They See Us." This show hit nerves that no one wanted to touch. A woman, Linda Fairstein, made a mistake. A mistake that cost 5 boys their youth and their faith. She had no leads in a case and decided to pin it on 5 boys she thought, "were likely" to commit this type of crime. She saw the perfect opportunity in these suspects because they were readily available. Fairstein used a known broken system against 5 boys to benefit her. Instead of wanting to put a man away who had hurt several women before Trisha Meili, she wanted to win a case by any means necessary. These boys were coerced into admitting to a crime they didn't commit. "Why admit to it," many people said. These boys were afraid, they were afraid because they had been taught to be afraid when around law enforcement. Oprah was also touched by this show. Winfrey interviewed the cast of "When They See Us" and the actual Exonerated 5. One of the cast members, Joshua Jackson who played Mickey Joseph-the defense attorney for Antron Mccray, said in the interview, "What I did learn about the justice system, is that it's the wrong name for it." In our society, everyone is trying their best to do right. We simply can not try, we have to do. 

When I Saw Them: Trisha Meili

    In life, we take the little moments for granted. We never think that we might be kissing our mothers for the last time, we never think that we might be sitting in class hating every moment of it but still getting our education for the last time, we never think that this moment where we are just being teens messing around and goofing off for the last time. The Exonerated five took those moments for granted.

   April 19th, 1989 at approximately 9pm, a 28-year-old white woman was found beaten, raped, and unconscious. Trisha Meili. Trisha Meili was the woman who was used as a toy and left for dead. Meili was in a coma for 12 days, She suffered severe hypothermia, severe brain damage, hemorrhagic shock, loss of about 75-80% of her blood, and internal bleeding. Meili was so injured that the initial prognosis was that she would shortly die after being found or remain in a coma. As a result of Meili's trauma, she had no recollection of the attack or of any event up to an hour. She had no memory of 6 weeks following the attack.

  Patricia Ellen Meili returned to work just 8 months after being brutally attacked by someone sinister.

  The city of New York sought justice for Meili, they were blinded by the anger of what was done to her and 7 other women. They were so blinded that they so unjustly made sure Justice was served, even at the expense of five young men's youth, sanity, and faith.

First Impression: On Self-Reliance

• "Ne te quaesiveris extra."
• Belief in yourself is what is true for all people
• The belief is genius, not the thought itself
• Cannot be yourself and be someone else at the same time
• Toil= work
• Only champ in your life is you
• whatever happens in your life is a result of you

I believe that even though parents instill in us that they want us to be our own person, they are also instilling in us not to stand out. They don't allow us to wear what we want to wear, they want us to wear 'normal' clothes. I think Emerson's essay is trying to get us to understand that it's not the standing out that makes it incredible, it's the act of standing out. Me ka aloha, Cece.

The Art of Hosting a Good Conversation... Online

The art of having a conversation online-

• Have fun
• Avoid taking sides
• Maintain connection
• Encourage people to talk amongst yourselves
• Stay with the topic
• Set a good example
• Value others' perspectives
• Be fair
• Listen
• Welcome others
• Accept everyone

Pedestrian -

Theme: intro- [Bradbury's experience and feelings]-humanity, technology, and authority

• 2 (tone)
• 3 (character)
• 1 (plot)

Me ke aloha, Cece

So This Guy Goes for a Walk pt 1

So this guy goes for a walk after he sends his wife home after she begs him to come home because she had a terrible dream. He starts walking and thinking about why she seemed so terrified. He thinks maybe the dream that scared her had some warning in it. I think this guy might be apart of something much bigger. Me ke aloha, Cece.

Having the Time of My Life

Today I was asked a question. How can understanding your time use help you improve the decisions you make about how to use your time?
In which I answered. Understanding time use can help improve the decisions we make about how to use our time by knowing where we spend the most time and what we spend the most time doing. By knowing these things we can then delegate time where it is needed most. Understanding time use allows us to take charge of deciding who deserves our time and who doesn't. Me ke aloha, Cece.

Hear Ye Hear Ye

Vote! Vote! Vote!

Vote Cece Watson for your 2019 Homecoming Princess!

Me ke Aloha, Cece.

I Ain't Got Time For This

I spend the majority of my time at school. Before school, after school, on school breaks. 'Why?' You might ask. Well, I am an athlete, and in order to be the best in each sport, I have to put in extra hours. When I get home I spend my time doing homework and sometimes eating. As of right now these habits of mine do and don't support my goals at the same time. My biggest goal is to be successful enough that if I do decide to have a family, they can be comfortable in life. If I decide to not to have a family, I want to be comfortable and be able to provide help to my family when needed. Right now I spend a lot of time on school work which helps my goals, but the other hours I spend at school take away from time I could be using to prepare myself for independency and my future. Me ke aloha, Cece

Communication Strategies of A Hacker

After the first read-through of "Conscience of a Hacker," I thought, "how is 'The Mentor' using diction, syntax, and tone to effectively convey his message?"

To answer this question I must first get to the bottom of, what are diction, syntax, and tone? Diction is the choice of words an author chooses, the syntax is the arrangement of words and phrases to create a well put together sentence, and lastly, tone is the attitude of a place or writing.

The Mentor uses these means of writing to convey his message by creating an image that teenagers could relate to. His diction shows that he wanted to paint an image of the average/general teenager as incompetent in the eyes of an adult.
Me Ke Aloha, Cece

Today I Was Thinking

Today I was thinking that teachers hardly ever give us instructions that prepare us for the real world. They give us knowledge that we may or may not use once we get out of high school,(with the exception of math) hell! We might not even use it once we pass that class! My AP English teacher is not that type of teacher. He gives us a 'mindful minute' which allows us to have a minute of quiet. He is also breaking the week down into days each dedicated to something that helps us in a bigger sense.

Mindful Mondays- set intentions for the week, write, and read our lit analysis books
Techie Tuesdays- apps, tools, and privacy/security
Cake Wednesdays- résumés, scholarship searches, personal statements, time management, personal strategic plans
Thoughtful Thursdays- Big Question research, mentor match, learning to teach
Freedom Fridays- writing time, catch up on work, prep for the weekend
Me ke aloha, Cece

The Making of an Essay

• Montaigne- essay was originally french word meaning try
• Literature was made by churches and government
• Essay- try to make yourself understood

I have always been told that I am a strong writer. I have always been able to write what my past teachers have wanted without actually thinking deeply. Today I learned that the only thing that actually matters in writing is making yourself understood. Now I can actually say meaningful stuff and be heard from my writing instead of doing a by the book essay. Me ke aloha, Cece

The First 50 Pages; The Sun is Also a Star

This book is a little confusing. There are are no definitive pages, it just switches between the two main characters, sometimes it will give a point of view of a significant character to give either background info in one of the thoughts of the main character or to give information that will be needed later in the 'day'. It will also give history on something important in the 'day' of Daniel and Natasha. So far it is really intriguing and I am looking forward to reading this book. I am going to watch the movie after I am done reading it. Me ke aloha, Cece

How I Read

I have always been a big reader since I was young. In the 4th grade, I read at a 12th-grade reading level. I don't normally re-read books, due to the fact that my memory is really good and I tend to remember books like the back of my hand. The genres I started off liking were comedies, then I slowly started liking crime and mystery books. I still read every once in a while when I have time to read. The most recent book I read was The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas. A book that I started reading many years ago and haven't finished despite it being really good and intriguing is Soul Eyes by Wayne Wilson. I have always preferred longer books just because I read very fast. Me ke aloha, Cece

Hack to School Night

The AP Eng Lang class that I am in is an open-source class about learning communication skills and learning about taking control of our learning and our life. The easiest part of the class is the journals because the prompts are all relatable and I usually like the prompts. The hardest part though is keeping up on my posts right now because I am a little busy. So far I have learned the 5 methods of memorization; repetition, write it down, record/ method, chunking, and mirror mirror. My big question is what is beauty? Me ke aloha, Cece

Today I asked A Question

What is beauty? Also, why has society changed that meaning/definition so much?

beau·ty

/ˈbyo͞odē/

Learn to pronounce

noun

1. a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight.

Who gets to decide what qualities are aesthetically pleasing? What are the guidelines of beauty? When beginning to decide whether you 'think' someone or something is beautiful, don't. You do not get to decide whether or not someone's qualities seem beautiful to you. Society has twisted and mangled what beauty is. I question, is that girl with the short skirt beautiful? Is that guy with the huge pecks beautiful? In our society, A woman who does not wear makeup needs to put a little on, one with too much needs to take it off. A man with no weight is not manly and needs to gain weight/muscles, a man with a lot of weight and muscles is a meathead. There is no way to win. So once again what is beauty? Me ke aloha, Cece

Why You Are Not Entitled to Your Own Opinion

 Being entitled to an opinion then creates the obligation to back off. Or so we think. In society, we believe that we are entitled to our opinion and everyone else has an obligation to accept that opinion and accept us. Having an opinion does not mean that another person is responsible for accepting and adapting to our opinion. Claiming the right to our opinion doesn't get us closer to the truth. There is absolutely no such thing as "My truth" or "Your truth". How can there be? Everyone sees their version of the truth differently. And claiming that "our opinion is our truth" gets us nowhere. Because our society depends so much on shared understanding, it is really important to know our rights.

The 1st amendment does not state that we have "freedom of speech". The first amendment does say something about freedom of speech, religion, to assemble, etc. But the exact language that the amendment gives is, "Congress shall make no law ABRIDGING freedom of speech and so on. The 1st amendment isn't absolute in the sense of, we are allowed legally to threaten anyone, you can not cause immediate danger to anyone, you can't insight people to violence, and you can't use hate speech. Me ke aloha, Cece

A Socratic Seminar

• Socrates was an educator who asked a lot of open-ended questions
• When someone argues they are not necessarily in a conflict they are just in search of the truth 
• Love is a popular theme in art because it is mysterious and one of the most human-felt emotion
• We're interested in love because we want someone in our lives just for us
• We suffer from dishonesty and mistrust
• Love is understanding
• Why is love such a human trait?  Why do we associate love with being human?
• It's one of the first feelings we feel when we're born
• It's closely associated with hurt
• Sometimes people fail at love because they're in it for the wrong reasons, like not wanting to be alone, instead of wanting a genuine connection with another person
• Loving makes us vulnerable
• Can you love someone but still hurt them?
• Do you love someone if you act against them and cheat on them?  
• Some people think that it's the sexual cheating that counts, but it's really more emotional

Me ka aloha, Cece

Welcome!

Aloha cousins! My name is Cece. I’m a young person who loves a good controversial debate! So welcome to the controversy!! Me ke aloha, Cece

Know Your Rights: A Response

I read an article by the ACLU about students protesting rights. A lot of people believe Rosa Parks to be very brave and inspirational for taking a stand... to not stand. She is in fact very inspirational, but in my opinion, I do not believe her to be brave. 9 months before Rosa Parks took her stand, a student refused to move to the back of the bus. But I bet you didn't know about 15-year-old Claudette Colvin. Sure Parks also refused to move but she was a tired adult. Many might argue that she was braver because she had more consequences, but in all of my heart, I do feel Colvin was just a tad bit braver because she was a child standing out and not knowing what could have come from it. Colvin was intentionally protesting while Parks just had a long day.

I feel it is important for all students to know their rights as students and use them to start protesting and making a change. The U.S Supreme Court states, "Students don't 'shed their constitutional rights freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gates.'" Students often become very shy and quiet once entering a classroom, because they feel that they are the child who doesn't have a voice. Change starts with the youth if our youth don't believe we have the voice or resources our future will crash and tumble. It starts with us. Knowing our rights as students will allow us to start making that change for our future. Me ke aloha, Cece

The Socratic Method: A Response

In our society, everything is constantly moving. It's all constantly shifting and changing. The way schools used to be no longer work for the generations of high schoolers that are upon us and the generations of high schoolers to be. Kids are getting restless, tests are getting ridiculous, and school is becoming a burden. Socrates' idea of teaching and learning should be the ideal way of school. Socrates asked questions that teachers are scared to ask. He asked questions to reach further into his student's brains, while teachers don't want an answer that isn't theirs and that will raise a debate. Me ke aloha, Cece